Good evening fellow stargazers!
This evening at midnight I was able to get some shots of some of the major stars in two of the constellations which make up the Winter Circle, and the Winter Triangle.
The first photo I took with SC HWY 9 in the foreground to give the constellations in the sky dome some scale. It shows the major stars of the Constellations Canis Major The Greater Dog, Lepus The Hare, and the lower part of Orion The Hunter. The Winter Circle I outlined in red.
The Winter Circle -- or Winter Hexagon as it is sometimes referred -- is an asterism appearing to be in the form of a hexagon with vertices at Rigel, Aldebaran, Capella, Pollux, Procyon, and Sirius. The stars that make up the circle, or hexagon, are parts of six major constellations: Orion, Taurus, Auriga, Gemini, Canis Minor, and Canis Major.
In my second photo I took a slightly higher and wider shot filling out the three constellations and their major stars. In this photo the Winter Triangle can be clearly seen.
It is an approximately equilateral triangle that shares two vertices (Sirius and Procyon) within the larger asterism. The third vertex is Betelgeuse, which lies near the center of the hexagon. These three stars are three of the ten brightest objects, as viewed from Earth, outside the Solar System. Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky and one of the closest stars to Earth at a distance of about 8.6 light-years. Betelgeuse is also particularly easy to locate, being a shoulder of Orion, which assists stargazers in finding the triangle. Once the triangle is located, the larger hexagon may then be found.
Well I hope y'all enjoyed my night sky photography for this evening. Have a wonderful Dixie day and be keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all!
This evening at midnight I was able to get some shots of some of the major stars in two of the constellations which make up the Winter Circle, and the Winter Triangle.
The first photo I took with SC HWY 9 in the foreground to give the constellations in the sky dome some scale. It shows the major stars of the Constellations Canis Major The Greater Dog, Lepus The Hare, and the lower part of Orion The Hunter. The Winter Circle I outlined in red.
The Winter Circle -- or Winter Hexagon as it is sometimes referred -- is an asterism appearing to be in the form of a hexagon with vertices at Rigel, Aldebaran, Capella, Pollux, Procyon, and Sirius. The stars that make up the circle, or hexagon, are parts of six major constellations: Orion, Taurus, Auriga, Gemini, Canis Minor, and Canis Major.
In my second photo I took a slightly higher and wider shot filling out the three constellations and their major stars. In this photo the Winter Triangle can be clearly seen.
It is an approximately equilateral triangle that shares two vertices (Sirius and Procyon) within the larger asterism. The third vertex is Betelgeuse, which lies near the center of the hexagon. These three stars are three of the ten brightest objects, as viewed from Earth, outside the Solar System. Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky and one of the closest stars to Earth at a distance of about 8.6 light-years. Betelgeuse is also particularly easy to locate, being a shoulder of Orion, which assists stargazers in finding the triangle. Once the triangle is located, the larger hexagon may then be found.
Well I hope y'all enjoyed my night sky photography for this evening. Have a wonderful Dixie day and be keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all!
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